Black-Letterhead 1.6

Black-Letterhead 1.6 is now available. The latest version now supports WordPress 2.7 which comes with several enhancements. The bulk of the WordPress 2.7 enhancements is in the redesign of the administration page – the Dashboard. It sports a new vertical menu bar on the left side with lots of new features too numerous to mention here.

Threaded Comments

Black-Letterhead 1.6 takes advantage of one of the latest enhancements of WordPress 2.7, particularly in the area of threaded comments. Threaded comments are replies within a reply. Replies are placed directly underneath a reply instead of at the end of the list. Threaded replies are also indented to display a thread discussion.

Threaded comments will need to be enabled in the `Settings – Discussion` for the threaded comments to show up on the screen. Once enabled, you will see `Reply` links on every comment. Clicking on the `Reply` makes the comment form jump to that particular comment. `Click here to cancel Reply` will restore the comments form to the bottom.

In addition, Black-Letterhead 1.6 was coded to be downward compatible, meaning it will work with older versions of WordPress, not just WordPress 2.7. The theme contains a code that detects if a new function in WordPress 2.7 called wp_list_comments() is available. If it is, the script will load `comments.php.`

If your blog is running an older version of WordPress, then the theme will run the `legacy.comments.php` file. This is where the old comments.php code is stored. The code here is essential to keeping the Black-Letterhead downward compatible to older versions of WordPress.

Colors and Page Widths

I’ve added a several new features to Black-Letterhead 1.6.Â The use of alternate stylesheets and a tiny Javascript allows for the theme to be styled with various colors and page widths. The change is instantaneous with just a click of mouse. The color options available are: the original orange color, red, blue, green, yellow, purple and teal. The two page widths are `default` and `wide` set at 760 and 960 pixels wide respectively.

To change colors or page widths, just click on `Preferences` located at the bottom of the Sidebar. The script sets a cookie in the user’s browser for a period of 365 days. If the cookie gets deleted, it will revert back to theme’s default setting. Cookies allow for browsers to remember the user’s preference for a period of 365 days.

Rotating Header Images

Another feature in 1.6 is the support of multiple and rotating header images. To add a header image(s), just place a 960x200px header image or images in the `images` folder. The script automatically detects an image and will display it. If more than one image is present, the script will randomly display the headers. If there are no images, the theme displays in normal mode.

Black-Letterhead 1.6 comes with a sample header image in the `images` folder. Just delete the image if you don’t want it. If you want rotating headers, just place 2 or more images in the same folder. The rotating script will randomly display the header images. If you use the Firefox browser, you may have to press Ctrl-F5 to refresh the screen.

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6 thoughts on “Black-Letterhead 1.6”

As you can see I use your theme and I love it!
But there’s one feature I miss and that’s the possibility to show the sidebar in the posts. Can that be fixed somehow for the version used at WordPress.com?

Hi Paddytheflea, WordPress.com is the maintainer of the Black-Letterhead theme at WordPress.com. They’ve made some subtle changes to the theme. They have sanitized it, added threaded comments, etc. I really don’t have edit rights to the theme at WordPress.com. I just get credit. If you want total control of your site, you will need to self-host, then you can make any change you want. Adding a sidebar on single views is an easy change, something that’s been discussed numerous times in my theme forum.

As you can see I use your theme and I love it!
But there’s one feature I miss and that’s the possibility to show the sidebar in the posts. Can that be fixed somehow for the version used at WordPress.com?

Actually, no. Unless WordPress.com makes the change. Maybe, with enough people making requests, they can make the change. Black-Letterhead origin was the Kubrick, once the default theme of WordPress. So, it behaves exactly as Kubrick in single page – with no sidebar. If you want the sidebar in single page, it’s just a matter of adding ‘add_sidebar()’ and changing div from widecolumn to narrowcolumn.